ok..fz190 or vostro by dell...

FZ190:

pros: screen is larger and just better. period; lighter and thinner, even though it has a bigger screen. 8400 GT.

cons: price is higher. only 5400 RPM hd (does this really matter?). i heard battery life sucks. only has 34 MM express card slot. 3 usb ports.

vostro 1400:

pros: excellent battery life. cheaper. better specs (7200 rpm harddrive, 9 cell battery provides something like 6+ hours of life). has 54 mm express card slot. 4 usb ports

cons: smaller screen. heavier. screen is not as good. 8400 GS. I heard some of the headphone jack has noise issues...not good for my music purposes! but not everyone over at dell forum has the issue?


will be using for college. will be encoding audio. will use for DJ purposes.



ok i have no idea where the hell to go... the specs are similar except the harddrive and the express sound slot.

 

well if they are very similar in specs I would say the sony would win hands down because of its screen. the vostro apparently has a small screen size but it weighs more? how important is portability to you? i know they both arent ultraportables but the sony is really light and for someone who is going to college it might tip the scales for you. will you have any qualms carrying a heavier laptop all day?

how important is the express card slot. I cant really see myself using it but as for you. if that is important and you cant get what you want with the 34mm express card slot then the answer is simple.

yep the sony could have done with more than 3 usb ports but i deal with it. a mouse, a wacom tablet and a USB external drive. if i ever needed an external compact flash reader its as easy as unplugging one.

5400 rpm is slow but you can always replace it with a faster hdd but hey it hasn't bothered me... yet. the true test is when I get photoshop loaded on my vaio.


the battery life could have been better for the sony but that can be said for a lot of notebooks out there. It seems fine for me now but i could always get a generic/official battery to carry around if that ever becomes a problem.

Probably the layout of their designs that can cause interference with the headphones but i haven't had that problem with my vaio as ive just plugged in my in ear headphones and it sounds fine. I do know the sound from the speakers are clear but lack the bass.. plug some 2.1 speakers in there and you'll be right if your studying at home/campus

Im a designer so first and foremost, i went with how good the screens appeared to me and this was great. I know the sony are more expensive but they felt quality. Also looks good too!

you say you will be using it for encoding audio. Which one of the two can you get thats faster? are they both in your budget. if so, from that vostro link, the sony looks to be faster and you'll encode your stuff quicker.


I dont care much for gamer cards but the one in the vaio that i have is a 8400M GT and thus it can play current games a lot better than the 8400M GS. Is this important to you?
if so, replacing graphic cards isnt something thats done as easily as getting a another battery, ram or hdd.

a couple of questions for you to think about because my choice in a notebook will differ from you and if it comes down to budget constraints, the cheaper one of the two would do you fine - that is if you can live with the negatives you pointed out.

 

thank you for the response!

now. a few more concerns.

- does sony come with a 1 year warranty? i did not see an option for 1 year, only 2,3, ect...

- i was never concerned with battery life... but if i can get at least 2 hours or more w/o the adapter, does the fz190 meet this expectation? i read in another post that some guy's didnt last his whole 3 hour class... but dont they have plug outlettes everywhere you go these days?

- would it be easy to replace the harddrive in case i do not like it's speed?

- why cant sony make a 54 mm slot!!! ahhh!! i planned to upgrade my soundcard. http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=208&product=16642&nav=2

 

Yes, the Sony comes with 1 year warranty standard. I have the extended battery, and even then the battery life isn't that great. I think it might have lasted 2, maybe 2 and a half hours while playing a DVD. But if you're worried about classes, most of them have plugs underneath the desks now.

Replacing the HD is a very simple procedure; several people in this forum have done it and everything went well for them. I haven't felt the need to replace mine yet; maybe in a year or so.

If the 54mm slot is that important, go for the vostro or another notebook with that slot. In the device manager, the soundcard is listed as "Sigmatel High Definition Audio", I'm not sure how good this card is, but the Laptop has an HDMI port, which makes me think they might have included a decent sound card for use with the HDMI. But I don't really know that much about soundcards.